6ER-043 Developing and validating a disaster management assessment tool for healthcare practitioners

Background and Importance Over the past five decades, disasters have become more frequent, making it crucial for healthcare practitioners, including pharmacists, to be well-prepared for disaster management. However, there is a sacristy of adequately developed and tested assessment tools that can be employed to examine disaster preparedness amongst HCPs from different healthcare disciplines and in different disaster situations. Aim and Objectives To develop and evaluate the Disaster Management Assessment Tool for Health Care Practitioners (DMATHCP). Material and Methods DMATHCP was developed based on the four stages of the 'disaster management framework' and a literature review of similar previously validated tools. Content validity was assessed through two rounds of review by nine and five experts, whereas face validity was assessed by 11 HCPs. DMATHCP was tested on 107 HCPs from different health disciplines and settings to evaluate the structural (factor analysis) and construct (convergent and divergent) validities as well as internal consistency reliability. Statistical analysis was performed using Stata 17 software. Results DMATHCP comprised five Likert scales that assess the perceptions of HCPs for knowledge, attitude, practice, willingness to continue practicing duties, and organisation-based management during disaster situations. The content validity indices indicated that all scales demonstrated satisfactory relevance and clarity, yet further improvements were made following the review of HCPs. Factor analyses revealed models that all items in each scale loaded significantly on their respective factors and demonstrated a good fit to data. Evaluation of construct validity and reliability of DMATHCP revealed that each scale item can adequately measure the constructs they are designed to measure, and had excellent internal consistency, respectively. Conclusion and Relevance This study established that DMATHCP is a conceptually and methodologically valid and reliable tool that is relevant to various health disciplines in responding to the challenges of disasters. This use of this tool will allow stakeholders to highlight key areas for improvement and innovation, optimise training programmes, resource allocation, and strategic planning to better prepare healthcare professionals for disasters. References and/or Acknowledgements This study was funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), Early Career Researcher Award (ECRA): ECRA03-001-3-001 Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest.